Inside

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a decisive performance level for the puzzle platformer Inside, with every tested resolution and preset combination exceeding the 60 FPS playability threshold. Benchmark data shows the combination ranks 1317th out of 3716 tested combos in this game, placing it comfortably above the median. Across all three resolutions—3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080—the average frame rates never dip below 81 FPS, even at the most demanding Ultra preset, indicating that this hardware pairing is substantially overqualified for the game’s modest graphical demands.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the RTX 3070 with the i7-13700K produces a wide spread of average frame rates depending on the preset. The Low preset achieves an average of 171 FPS, while Medium averages 136 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS. High settings yield an average of 85 FPS, and Ultra drops to 81 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 90 FPS, showing that the GPU scales significantly with visual fidelity but remains well above the playable threshold even at maximum quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance headroom expands considerably. Low settings produce an average of 272 FPS, while Medium reaches 217 FPS with a minimum of 185 FPS and a maximum of 250 FPS. High averages 136 FPS, and Ultra maintains 129 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 143 FPS, indicating that resolution scaling is more pronounced than preset scaling at this level. The minimum recorded frame rate at Medium, 185 FPS, is still nearly three times the playable threshold.

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers exceptional frame rates that approach or exceed high-refresh-rate monitor capabilities. Low settings average 378 FPS, Medium averages 302 FPS with a minimum of 257 FPS and a maximum of 347 FPS. High settings produce 189 FPS, and Ultra still averages 180 FPS. The minimum frame rate at Medium, 257 FPS, is over four times the 60 FPS playability threshold, suggesting that the CPU and GPU are far from being strained at this resolution.

The pattern across resolutions shows that the RTX 3070’s memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory are sufficient for Inside’s requirements. The transition from 3840x2160 to 2560x1440 yields roughly a 60% improvement in average FPS at Ultra settings (from 81 to 129), while the move from 2560x1440 to 1920x1080 adds another 40% (from 129 to 180). These scaling factors indicate that the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions, though even at 4K Ultra, the system remains playable.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Inside at 4K resolution?*

A: Yes. At 3840x2160, all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are playable. The Ultra preset averages 81 FPS, while Low reaches 171 FPS, all above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p for this combination?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 is the most demanding option that stays above 60 FPS, averaging 129 FPS. This is the highest quality setting available and still leaves substantial performance headroom.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 180 at 1920x1080 to 129 at 2560x1440, then to 81 at 3840x2160. This represents a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K, showing that resolution has a significant impact on the GPU workload.

*Q: Is the RTX 3070’s 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Inside?*

A: The measured data shows no performance degradation at any resolution or preset, indicating that 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is fully adequate for this game. The highest VRAM demand occurs at 4K Ultra, which still delivers an average of 81 FPS.

Q: What are the minimum frame rates recorded?

A: Minimum frame rates were only recorded at the Medium preset. At 3840x2160, the minimum is 116 FPS; at 2560x1440, it is 185 FPS; and at 1920x1080, it is 257 FPS. All exceed the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin.

Q: Does this combination ever drop below 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all twelve tested configurations (three resolutions × four presets), the lowest average FPS is 81 at 4K Ultra. Even the minimum recorded frame rates at Medium settings are above 115 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is the most demanding option that maintains an average of 81 FPS, which is the highest quality setting available and clears the 60 FPS threshold by 21 FPS. The High preset at 85 FPS offers a slightly higher frame rate with marginally reduced visual quality, but Ultra remains the recommendation for maximum fidelity.

For 2560x1440, Ultra again is the best choice, averaging 129 FPS. This is more than double the playable threshold, so there is no need to compromise on visual settings. The High preset at 136 FPS provides a nominal improvement but is unlikely to be perceptible in a puzzle platformer.

At 1920x1080, Ultra delivers an average of 180 FPS, which is the highest quality setting and still exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates. The High preset at 189 FPS offers a negligible gain. For players with 240 Hz monitors, even the Low preset at 378 FPS or Medium at 302 FPS can be utilized, but the Ultra preset remains the most visually appealing option that comfortably exceeds all common display refresh rates.

The Verdict

The data confirms that this PC can run Inside without any playability concerns. The verdict by resolution lists all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—as playable at every resolution from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 180 FPS; at 1440p, it averages 129 FPS; and at 4K, it averages 81 FPS. All of these figures are above the 60 FPS playable threshold, with the lowest margin being 21 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The system’s performance is characterized by overwhelming headroom rather than marginal playability. Even the most demanding configuration—4K Ultra—maintains an average above 80 FPS, which suggests that the RTX 3070’s 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability and the i7-13700K’s 16 cores and 24 threads are far more than this 2016 puzzle platformer requires. The game’s release date of 2016-07-06 predates the hardware by several years, and the benchmark results reflect this generational advantage.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor in this game’s performance. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings, the average FPS drops by 51 FPS (from 180 to 129), and from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, it drops by another 48 FPS (from 129 to 81). This consistent degradation with increasing pixel count points to the RTX 3070 as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions where frame rates are extremely high. At 1080p Low, the average of 378 FPS indicates that the i7-13700K’s single-thread performance—evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2116 and 3DMark single-thread score of 1136—is sufficient to feed the GPU without limiting frame rates. The CPU’s 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 125 W TDP provide ample processing bandwidth for the game’s physics and logic.

Preset scaling also reveals the GPU’s influence. At 4K, moving from Low to Ultra reduces average FPS from 171 to 81, a 53% decrease. At 1080p, the same preset change reduces FPS from 378 to 180, a 52% decrease. This consistent relative drop across resolutions indicates that the GPU’s workload scales with both resolution and preset quality, while the CPU maintains a stable performance floor that does not become a limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1317th out of 3716 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the 65th percentile of all systems tested. This rank reflects the GPU’s 61st percentile standing among all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 89th percentile among all CPUs. The disparity suggests that the GPU is the more limiting component in this pairing, but the overall combination still performs better than the majority of tested systems.

The average benchmark score for this combo is not directly provided, but the GPU’s average benchmark score of 17208 and the CPU’s average of 46881 indicate that the CPU contributes more to the system’s overall benchmark position. In a game like Inside, which relies more on GPU rendering than CPU computation, the combo’s rank is likely driven by the RTX 3070’s capabilities rather than the i7-13700K’s substantial multi-threaded performance.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU’s nearest rivals, based on average benchmark scores, are the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX, and Intel Xeon w3-2535. The Ryzen 9 5900 scores 0.2% lower than the i7-13700K, while the Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 is 0.3% lower. The Ryzen 9 7845HX and Xeon w3-2535 both score 0.5% higher. These deltas are negligible, meaning that swapping the i7-13700K for any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Inside, as the game is not CPU-bound at the tested settings.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, AMD Radeon HD 7970M, and NVIDIA Tesla K40c. The RX 7600 XT scores 0.7% higher, the GTX 690 scores 1% higher, and the HD 7970M scores 1.1% higher, while the Tesla K40c scores 1.5% lower. These differences are within a narrow band, so users with any of these GPUs would experience similar performance in Inside—still well above the 60 FPS threshold at all resolutions. However, the GTX 690 and HD 7970M are older architectures, and their benchmark scores may not fully reflect real-world performance in modern titles, though for Inside the data shows equivalence.